


Radio Silence

by blarkeontheark



Series: Letters to Clarke [2]
Category: The 100 (TV)
Genre: Angst, F/F, F/M, M/M, back at it again with the angst, bellamy still loves clarke, can clarke save the day, eligius kru, everyone in the bunker is dying, hahaha, i'll let you find out, no fluff sorry not sorry, radio problems again, you know how much i love killing the faves
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-01
Updated: 2017-06-01
Packaged: 2018-11-07 13:19:42
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,711
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11059812
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/blarkeontheark/pseuds/blarkeontheark
Summary: (sequel to Letters to Clarke)Raven, Bellamy, Emori and Murphy are still trapped on the asteroid with Cleo Alistair, who's acting slightly suspicious. Meanwhile, Clarke, Madi, Harper, Monty, Echo and the Skaiboudakru are trying to dig out the people in the bunker before it's too late and they all run out of air.





	Radio Silence

**Author's Note:**

> seriously y'all it makes a lot more sense if you read letters to clarke first
> 
> anyway i realized i wasn't happy with how i'd left that fic off so i decided to pick up where i left off and see if i could formulate a slightly better story this time. told from bellamy's POV, so whenever it's first-person it's from his perspective, but it switches perspectives between the skaifayakru, the people on the ground and the people in the bunker.

“When will you come home?”

I sighed, adjusting the radio. I hadn’t told her our predicament—that we were all trapped on this asteroid forever. I’d been kind of counting on Raven to let her know, but apparently that hadn’t happened.

“Clarke…”

“You’ve been avoiding the question for three days, Bell. We’re going to try to dig everyone out of the bunker again, and we could use some manpower down here.” I could tell she was trying for a light tone. “I mean, half of our team is noodle-arms Monty and a twelve-year-old girl.”

I frowned. “We didn’t send down a twelve-year-old girl.”

Dead silence on the other end. 

“Didn’t I tell you about Madi?”

I realized that she hadn’t told me anything about the six years we’d been apart. I’d mostly been telling her what had happened, paraphrasing sections of my journal without directly quoting them. Clarke didn’t need to know I’d written to her multiple times a year because I missed her.

“Who’s Madi?” I asked.

“A Nightblood. I found her about five years ago, and we’ve been working together ever since.” Clarke’s tone softened. “She’s like family.”

There was a scuffling on the other end, and a new voice piped into the radio.

“Are you Bellamy?”

I blinked. “Yeah.”

“You’re the one that Clarke tries to radio every morning.”

“Every morning?”

“Since Praimfaya.”

“Thanks, Madi,” I heard Clarke mutter. “Sorry, Bell. The kid can’t keep her mouth shut.” There was a trace of affection in her tone that told me all I needed to know: Madi was Clarke’s daughter, biologically or not. They had a parental bond that could not be broken. 

“Every single morning?”

Clarke laughed. “Not like I had much else to do.”

“I wrote you letters,” I blurted. 

Nice job, Blake.

“But you thought I was dead,” Clarke pointed out. 

“I thought you were dead, Clarke.”

The mood of the conversation had shifted, and I could hear the background noise fade as Clarke moved to a quieter spot.

“But I’m not.”

“Clarke…”

“Bell, when are you coming home?” she demanded. “For God’s sake, don’t hem and haw. Just give me an answer. I can wait. I just want to know.”

Fuck. 

“I’m not.”

She inhaled sharply.

“Raven was supposed to tell you,” I said quietly. “There was a giant fire yesterday that burned through the rest of our fuel. We’re lucky we’re alive. And we have no way to get to the ground.”

"Isn't there..." she began aimlessly. 

"No."

"Bellamy, I can't. I can't never see you again." Her voice was beginning to verge on panic. 

We'd come so close. So close, and now there was no way for me to return home. 

"You can't even get back to the Ark?" she asked. 

I frowned. "Why would we want to?"

"How much fuel is there, exactly?"

"Probably just enough to get to the Ark, and maybe a little more."

"Could you put the extra fuel in the rocket?"

The idea jolted me. I hadn't thought about the rocket. 

I turned to find Raven standing over my shoulder—but she just looked exhausted. 

"Did you catch that?" I asked. 

"I caught it."

Raven hadn't been herself in a while—her brain never fully healing had taken a huge toll on her, and she was often found in her compartment, sleeping during the day. She'd get up at night, pick at some of her rations, and leave the rest on the radio for me to find in the morning. 

"Bellamy?" Clarke's voice cut in. 

"Hold on." I turned to Raven. "Is it doable?"

Raven shook her head. "Bellamy, isn't there ever a point where you just accept that life has screwed us over and you give up?"

"Give up?" I repeat in disbelief. "Who are you and what did you do with Raven Reyes?"

"Raven stayed on the Ark."

She was gone, quietly closing the door behind her. 

"Bell, are you still there?"

"I'm here." I sighed. "Raven has effectively and completely given up on life. So I don't think this is happening anytime soon."

"Is it possible?"

"I don't know."

"When she comes back, put her on the radio," Clarke said. "Listen, I've got to go. We're heading to Polis for some bunker rescue efforts. I'd trust Monty and Harper to supervise if they manage to get it open, but Madi's dead-set on going."

"I'll talk to Raven," I said. "Maybe get her to see sense."

"Okay."

There was a yell in the background, and Clarke sighed. "I'd better go. I'll call as soon as I get back."

"I'll be here."

The connection went quiet and I stared blankly out the window, trying to picture Clarke out there, satellite dish pointed blindly into space. 

"Hey, Bellamy."

I glanced up as Emori strolled in. "Is Clarke still there?"

I shook my head. "They're going to the bunker to try and dig my sister out."

"Did you tell her?"

I nodded. 

"If we could get back to the Ark..." 

Emori glanced at me. "What, with the algae salads and you moping outside the Sky Box, writing your letters to Clarke? Don't think we didn't all read them."

Great. I tried not to roll my eyes. "Thanks, Emori. That's not what I meant. We still have a rocket."

"With not enough fuel to get us to the ground. Unless you'd rather deliver your corpse directly to Clarke's door." Emori leaned closer, as if sharing a secret. "Tip: Girls don't usually like that."

"If we could get over to the Ark," I continued, resolving to ignore her quips, "we would still have fuel left over to transfer to the rocket. The question is, would that be enough?"

Emori raised an eyebrow. "You're committed to this."

It wasn't a question, so I didn't offer an answer. 

"Sounds good to me." Murphy ambled into the room, dropping into the seat next to Emori. "What sayeth the mechanic? Can it be done?"

"The only thing Raven's on board with at the moment is her own mortality," I said glumly. 

"It's happened before," Murphy said. "She usually pulls her shit together at the last second, but..."

He didn't need to finish his sentence. Maybe there would be a day when Raven would fall down and not be able to pick herself back up. 

"I'd really like to go home," Emori said quietly. "We're missing three of our people. Bellamy's sister is down there, and so is Clarke. There are a hundred people from Sangedakru down there in that bunker." She bit her lip. "I'm ready to go to the ground."

"Clarke's down there," Murphy said. "We need to at least try. We owe her that much."

I laughed. 

"What?" Emori asked, looking at me like I'd just jumped off the asteroid. 

"It's funny that we keep referring to Earth as down," I mused. "It's actually just to the left."

"Do you ever quit?" Murphy asked. 

"Nope." I stood up. "I'm going to talk some sense into Raven."

"Good luck, man." Murphy idly tangled Emori's hair, giving me a skeptical look. "We might have to kidnap her."

"Ha ha."

…

"When is he coming?"

Clarke shot Echo a glance. The Azgeda girl had revealed nothing about exactly how close she and Bellamy had gotten over the long years when Bellamy thought she was dead, but Clarke suspected it had shifted past platonic. 

"He's not," Clarke said heavily. 

"What?" Echo stopped dead in her tracks. "What do you mean, he's not?"

"Who's not? What are you talking about?" Monty asked, slowing beside them. "Clarke, is it Bellamy?"

"They had a giant fire, and it burned through most of their fuel," Clarke said. "There's not enough for them to get to Earth."

Shocked silence. 

"I knew I should have given him my spot," Monty said. "Clarke, I'm so—"

"No," Echo interrupted. "It wasn't your spot, Monty, it was mine. It was between me and Bellamy, and he told me I should go. And knowing full well that I had no one and that he had Clarke and Octavia, I still went."

Clarke bit her lip. There was something about the way the three of them acted around each other—as if they weren't a jumbled group of Grounders and Skaikru anymore. They were a family, a clan, and they were missing their own. 

“It may not be the end,” she said haltingly. 

“What do you mean?” Harper joined the group. “What’s going on, guys?”

Monty gave her the quick recap of the conversation. 

“So Raven, Bell, Murphy and Emori are trapped in space?” she gasped. “And we left them up there to die?”

“Bellamy tells me they’ve salvaged the remaining fuel,” Clarke informed them. “There’s not a lot—not nearly enough to get to Earth—but maybe enough…to get to the Ark.”

“The Ark?” Echo frowned. “Why the hell would they want to go to the Ark?”

But Monty smiled.

“There would have to be enough fuel leftover from the trip to the Ark to load onto the rocket,” he said. “Raven would know how to do it. Did Bellamy tell all of this to her?”

“Raven’s not cooperating.”

“Did she say it can’t be done?” Harper pressed.

“She’s not saying much of anything. I don’t know what’s up with her, but Bellamy’s trying to talk some sense into her.”

“Clarke?” 

Clarke glanced over as a young teenager with dark, braided hair and a pale face smudged with dirt approached her.

“Ogud?” she asked. 

Ready?

Clarke took a deep breath and nodded. “Let’s go,” she said.

In lines of five, with Clarke, Madi, Echo, Monty and Raven leading the way, they began the trek to Polis.

…

“Six days.”

Octavia glanced up. “Thanks, Jaha,” she said. “You’re really helpful, you know that?”

“Octavia, this is madness. You need to say something to them.” Jaha was still wearing the same ugly sweater that he’d been wearing for three days, Octavia noted. 

“You need to change your shirt,” Octavia snapped. “Please go apologize to the oxygenator that works day and night to produce air for you to spit out the garbage that you come out with on a daily basis.”

Jaha sighed. “Will you—“

“Don’t. Speak. Let me be free of your utter crap for six more days until we all die.”

Lifting his hands in a sign of placation, he left the office. Octavia leaned her cheek against her hand, trying futilely to reboot the cameras for the five hundredth time in the past six months.

Nothing. Just blackness.

Ever since they had tried to crack the bunker door a year ago and had felt too much resistance to be able to emerge, Octavia had held out hope that Bellamy and the others would come for them. But they had lost contact so long ago that she had almost no faith that they had even made it on the Ark for all five years.

“We were wrong,” she whispered. “We thought we were saving humanity, but we’re trapped in a big underground coffin.” 

“Octavia?”

Octavia lifted her head, shutting the screens down and pressing them into the desk. “Are all of the adults ganging up on me to make a speech today?”

Abby smiled slightly, closing the door behind her. “No. I just didn’t think anyone would be in here, and I could use a break from the riots.”

Octavia groaned. “What do they expect me to do?” she demanded. “I’m stuck down here, just like the rest of them!”

“They look to you, Octavia,” Abby reminded her. “If you can’t get us out in time, the least you can do is give them peace to look to in the end.”

“I know nothing of peace,” Octavia said stonily.

“That’s not true.” Abby reached out to cup her cheek. “You rallied them together. You told them we were Wonkru. Make them believe it, Octavia. Tell them they fought for something. Tell them…tell them our fight is over.”

Tell them our fight is over.

Octavia burst into tears. She was vaguely aware of Abby’s arms going around her, stroking her knotted hair as if she were her daughter and not a bratty teenager who thought she was in charge of the world.

Huh. That did sound like Abby’s daughter.

“I never got to see my brother,” she whispered. She could feel Abby nod against her shoulder, knew she understood.

She had lost someone, too.

…

“Raven?”

Bellamy’s voice was soft, but Raven couldn’t bring herself to turn away from the wall she was facing.

“Raven, come on.” She felt him sit on the bed next to her. “What’s going on?”

She took a deep breath, formulating words, trying to figure out what to say.

His hand rested on her shoulder. “Do you want to talk?”

“Bellamy?” a voice yelled in the hallway. The door swung open, flooding Raven’s room with harsh light. She sighed, moving the pillow in front of her face to block it.

“Bellamy?” It was Cleome Alistair, better known on the asteroid as Cleo. She and Bellamy got along well, but Raven suspected she just reminded him of Clarke. Raven couldn’t see her, but she knew the high, clear voice. “There you are. Can we talk for a second, or are you busy?”

Bellamy hesitated.

“Go,” Raven said quietly.

“I’ll be back in one hour,” Bellamy said firmly.

“It’s fine, Bellamy. I just…I need to sleep. I’ll be fine.”

“Okay.” Bellamy moved her hair away from her face and stood up, following Cleo out of the room, shutting the door carefully behind him.

Raven rolled on her back, not bothering to wipe away the tear creeping across her face and into her hair. 

“I just want to home,” she whispered to the ceiling, to the stars, to herself.

…

“What’s up?” I shut the door behind and followed Cleo down the hall.

Cleo leaned against the wall, pushing her hair out of her face. “You’re the leader of your people.”

“Do you mean Skaifayakru, or Skaikru?” I asked carefully. “Because my sister—“

“Before the wave of fire came, before the official conclave,” Cleo said. “You were a leader, Bellamy Blake.”

“I wasn’t the real leader,” I said heavily. “That honor belonged to—“

“—Clarke, I know.” Cleo gave me a small smile. “You talk about her a lot, for someone that’s never going to see her again.”

The words hit me like a punch in the gut.

“She saved the world about four different times,” I said defensively. “Cleo, if you knew her—“

“Yes, yes, she’s perfect, the savior-type—“

“She pointed a gun at my head because I was trying to save my sister from the death wave.”

Cleo raised an eyebrow. 

“Clarke doesn’t coast on a wave of heroic actions with no real consequences,” I said. “She’s the one that makes the tough choices. Trust me when I tell you, Cleo, that whatever adults may tell you otherwise, Clarke is our leader.”

Cleo was silent for a moment, mulling this over.

“So why didn’t she shoot you?”

I started to shake my head, but Emori, passing by, gave a loud snort.

“Because she’s in love with Bellamy,” she said as if it were obvious. “Bellamy has always been her biggest weakness.”

“I’m not—“ I started, but Emori shook her head. 

“When I was under ALIE’s control, I could hear everything that everyone else was saying,” she said. “Our minds were linked. And I know everything that happened when Abby and Jaha were torturing Clarke.”

I ground my teeth. “Yeah, Emori. I really want to know—“

“Shut up for like one second, will you? Abby eventually put her foot down and told Jaha that physical torture would not work on Clarke, that she was too strong. Instead, she said that her weakness was her friends. And to start with Bellamy Blake.”

Cleo smirked. “Sounds like you’re her biggest weakness to me.” 

Emori continued down the hallway, looking smug. 

“Why are we even talking about this?” I demanded. “Yeah, Clarke’s a leader, Clarke and I are in this together—“

“Exactly,” Cleo said quickly. “You and Clarke are both leaders of your people. Which is why I need your help, Bellamy.”

I stared at her quizzically.

“They’re rioting,” Cleo said desperately. “They all blame me—I wasn’t even there, and they blame me for everything that happened. I want to help them, but I don’t know how.”

“What are you asking me, Cleo?” 

“Help me lead them.” She looked up at me, green eyes bright. “They’ll listen to you, Bellamy. You’re good at this type of thing.” 

She slid her hand into mine. I was too taken by surprise to react.

“Clarke isn’t here,” she whispered. “Why can’t we be in this together?”

…

“Five miles to Polis.”

“Why don’t we stop and camp for the night?” Harper suggested. “We don’t need to make the whole trip in one day. Look, it’s getting dark.”

Clarke grumbled under her breath, but stopped, climbing atop a rock to get everyone’s attention.

“We’re stopping for the night,” she announced. 

There were a few yells, but after a few minutes, everyone generally started to settle down. 

The radio crackled, and Clarke quickly fumbled with the antenna, pointing it aimlessly into the sky until she found a signal.

“Clarke Griffin, come in. Clarke Griffin, come in.”

Clarke narrowed her eyes. “Who is this?”

“Are you Clarke?”

“Does it matter?”

Harper and Monty exchanged glances. Echo scowled at the radio.

“My name is Cleome Alistair,” the voice said. “If you’ve heard of me, you’d probably know me as Cleo. I’m a friend of Bellamy’s.”

“Nope.” Clarke let as much acid seep into her tone as possible. “Haven’t heard of you.”

Echo stifled a grin.

“I suppose not. Anyway, I wanted to let you know that you won’t be hearing from Bellamy again.”

Clarke gripped the radio. “What the fuck does that mean? Put Bellamy on, right now.”

“I don’t think so,” Cleo said calmly. “As of now, I’m going to tell him that you and the others were killed in a tragic accident, and that your radio went dead. And then I am going to smash the transmitter.”

“Why are you doing this?” Clarke said icily. “Bellamy’s not stupid. He knows I’m not dead.”

“Well, then I guess he’ll forever have to live without knowing for sure.”

Before Clarke could reply, the radio crackled deafeningly and went completely silent.

“Hey!” Clarke yelled. “Cleo! BELLAMY!”

“Is that crazy bitch serious?” Harper demanded. “I always knew she had a fucked-up thing for Bellamy, but I didn’t think she would do something like this.”

Clarke closed her eyes against the onslaught of tears.

“He’s not coming to the ground,” she said. “Not if he thinks I’m dead.”

…

She found him sitting on the steps. He always did, this time of night.

“You need to sleep,” she said quietly.

Marcus turned to glance down at her. “Why? So I can wake up again in the morning and do nothing, again? We’ve got five days to live, Abby. This time, we can’t do anything. We can’t crash the Ark to the ground. We can’t hole up in a bunker. Actually, that’s the only thing we can do, since we can’t get out of it.”

“Marcus.” Abby shut the door behind her, crossing to the steps. “You’re giving up? Now, after all this?”

“I shouldn’t have been in this bunker in the first place,” he said tonelessly. “I was selfish.”

“Marcus…”

“For once, I wanted to live. With you,” he said bitterly. “And now I’m going to die with you.”

Abby took a seat on the step below his, idly reaching for his hand. Reluctantly, he let her take it.

“It was a good life,” she said quietly. “We did the best we could. We can’t beat everything.”

“Was it a good life?”

Abby sighed. “Marcus, if you’re about to list off all of the mistakes we’ve ever made, I don’t want to hear it. I know what we did. And at the end of the day, it doesn’t matter, because the human race is going to go extinct and there’s nothing we could have done to stop it.” She smiled slightly. “Even Clarke did the best she could, and it still wasn’t enough.”

He opened his mouth, and then closed it again.

“It was a good life,” she continued, “because of what I learned along the way, and the people I met. So don’t you dare think for one second that you should have stayed out of this bunker, because you are the most important person in my life.”

His gaze softened.

“Clarke?” he asked quietly.

“I loved Clarke. I still do.” She blinked at the surprise waterworks rising to her eyes. “She’s…she’s gone. She sacrificed herself for them, and they never even made it down.”

“Hey.” His arm went around her, stroking her hair, lightly touching her face. “She wanted you to be happy. In the end, she was always trying to give back everything you did for her in the only way she knew how; the way you would have.”

A small sob escaped Abby, but she nodded, curling in closer to Marcus and laying her head on his shoulder. 

“And…Abby?”

“Yes?”

“I love you.”

“I love you too, Marcus.”

…

“What are you doing?”

Cleo jumped, turning to face Raven in the doorway. “Huh?”

“I asked,” the mechanic replied icily, “what you were doing.”

“I was trying to get in contact with Clarke.” Cleo shifted. “I think…I think she’s dead.”

Her eyes were wide, but Raven’s were narrowed.

“Clarke doesn’t die,” Raven said. “So I’m gonna need to see some proof.”

“She was yelling for help over the radio,” Cleo said earnestly. “And…I don’t know what it was, but the radio just went…dead.”

Raven bit her lip.

“You are an idiot,” she said.

“I swear, Rachel—“

Raven strode over to the radio and cracked it open.

“First of all, my name is Raven,” she snapped. “Secondly, this transmitter was just smashed, by you, a second ago, because, once again, you are a colossal moron. And thirdly?” She turned to face Cleo, who looked absolutely stupefied. “Clarke has never once yelled for help in her entire life. Especially not to people who are in SPACE, and couldn’t help her if they tried. Only you would be that stupid.”

“I—“ Cleo blinked. “I didn’t realize you weren’t, honestly.”

Raven’s hand shot out and slapped her across the face.

“Parasite,” she spat.

Then she turned on her heel and left.

…

“Do I get to hear a sontaim tonight?”

Clarke raised an eyebrow as Madi settled beside her at the fire they had made. “I think I’ve told you all of my stories, ai strik natblida.”

“Oh, come on,” Harper said. “I’m sure there are some she hasn’t heard.”

“Yeah,” Monty said dryly. “Tell her the one where a bunch of kids from Alpha Station decided to off themselves right before the apocalypse.”

Clarke glared at Monty. “That’s not a bedtime story, asshole.”

“Hey, hey,” Echo interrupted. “Okay. I’ve got one. And Clarke doesn’t know it, because she wasn’t here for it.”

“The conclave?” Harper asked, grinning. “I didn’t get to hear this one either! I only know who won.” She glanced at Clarke. “And what Miss I-Had-No-Choice did.”

“Shhh,” Clarke chided. “Madi knows who won the conclave, but neither of us know how it went.”

“Gaia’s the only one with all the information,” Echo said. “But I think I can fill in most of the blank spots.” She smiled at Madi, who looked eager to hear a new story. “Sadgeda, sha?”

Madi nodded. “I want to hear about the Sadgeda.”

“Okay.” Echo leaned forward, closing her eyes. “It started with a Fleimkepa named Gaia, the daughter of a fierce warrior named Indra kom Trikru, and a sigil for each clan…”

…

“Octavia?”

Octavia lifted her head, sweeping her hair aside. “Hey,” she said quietly, in the softer tone she only reserved for one person. “I thought you were sleeping.”

“I can’t,” Niylah shrugged. “I thought I’d come find you.”

“You always know where I am.”

“You’re more predictable than you think, Octavia Blake.”

“Mmm.” Octavia scooted over in her chair, letting Niylah squeeze in beside her. She turned and draped her legs over the arm of the chair so that she was practically sitting in Niylah’s lap.

“Tell me something,” Niylah said thoughtfully. “I’ve been thinking a lot, about Clarke—and we’re all going to die in a few days anyway, so why not ask?”

“What?” Octavia raised her head slightly.

“Your brother loved her.”

“Bellamy?” Octavia dipped her head slightly. “I mean…Clarke was his best friend.”

“Don’t, Octavia. Don’t pretend you didn’t see it.”

“Fine.” Octavia sighed. “He did. They loved each other. They never…never got the chance to admit it.”

She glanced at Niylah. “Does it bother you?” she asked quietly.

Niylah shook her head. “It’s been so long,” she said. “Clarke was…a chapter in my past.”

“And what about now?” Octavia leaned her head against Niylah’s shoulder.

“I have no future to speak of,” Niylah told her. “But if you are my present…that’s enough for me.”

Octavia tilted her head forward to press her lips to Niylah’s. It was a brief kiss, an end-of-the-world kiss, a kiss that held no promise. 

It was a goodbye kiss.

“We’ll leave the shore together,” she whispered. “In this life or the next, Niylah, we will meet again.”

…

“Raven?”

“You’re lucky I made friends in the mechanical wing,” she said brusquely. “There’s just enough fuel left over for us to make it to the Ark, and then some. The ‘then some’ is the part I’m not sure about.” She set the notebook she was holding down and bit her lip. “Bellamy, we have to get out of here.”

“Well.” I was thrown off by her sudden rebound. “Let me talk to Clarke, see what she—“

“You can’t.” Raven stood up. “She smashed it. She smashed the transmitter.”

“She?”

“The Alistair girl. The one you’re convinced is so much like Clarke? She murdered the radio and tried to tell me that Clarke was dead,” Raven said angrily. “She wants you on her side, Bellamy, and she’s willing to do anything to get you there. Even cutting you off from Clarke.”

“Raven, are you okay?”

She stopped dead. “What?”

“Are you okay?“

“I’m fine.” She spoke through gritted teeth. “Bellamy, do you want to go home or not?”

“Raven, stop,” I said. “Talk to me. What is it?”

“I’m really fucking tired of this!” she shouted. “I’m sick of the apocalypse! I’m supposed to be on Earth right now, sitting around a fire with you idiots, fixing up Alpha Station when it breaks down, and tiptoeing around Grounders when we piss them off. Instead we’re milling around on top of a big hunk of overly-mined rock while our planet sits there like one of Jasper’s ‘extra crispy’ s’mores.” She shook her head. “I’m ready to go home, Bellamy, or die trying. Are you?”

“Did I hear the words ‘go home?’ Because I’m on board.” Murphy motioned them into an empty compartment. “You pissed her off, Raven. She’s trying to initiate a lockdown, only no one actually listens to her. But they’ll start soon enough if we don’t move quickly.”

I blinked. “Are we doing this? Are we going home, right now?”

Murphy grinned. “Emori’s talking to Raven’s guy right now, and they’re setting up the ship that will take us to the Ark.”

We all glanced at each other, taking in the situation.

Then, as one, we dashed off to our compartments to grab our stuff.

…

It wasn’t even close to the first time Clarke had slept under the stars. But as the chill started to set in, she began to wish the Rover was nearby.

Madi, nestled in three jackets next to her, rolled over.

“Octavia sounds like a hero,” she whispered. “She’s Bellamy’s sister, right?”

Clarke nodded. “She may be alive today,” she said quietly. “No one really knows.”

“She’s underground, with the rest?”

“She led them underground and closed the door. They’re trapped in there, now, and we’re going to get them out.”

Madi smiled. “I remember seeing her, once,” she said. “After the conclave, when my sister told me that we had to leave and try to find shelter for Praimfaya.” Her face sobered a little. “We didn’t, though.”

Clarke sighed. “There’s something I didn’t tell you.”

“What is it?”

“Dula yu mema in Skaikru don wogeda?” 

Do you remember when Skaikru stole the bunker?

Madi nodded. “It was you,” she said. “Ai get in kom nau.”

“How did you know?” 

“No one else would have fought so hard for their people,” Madi told her. “You’ve always been their protector, even now, when they’ve been without you for so long. They always come back to you.”

It was such a remarkably insightful thing for her to say that Clarke was stunned into silence until she heard Madi’s breathing become even and slow.

“She’s right, you know,” Monty said.

Clarke glanced up. He was sitting against a tree next to her, watching her and Madi with a crooked smile.

“I locked you out of the bunker, too.”

“You sacrificed yourself to get us to safety, Clarke. You’re not the bad guy here.” 

She straightened, joining Monty against the tree trunk.

“Your hair is shorter than I remember it,” she said wistfully. “What…what does Bellamy look like?”

Monty grinned. “He hasn’t changed a bit. I don’t think he went a day without mentioning your name, Clarke. Whatever else you may be, you are not forgotten.”

“I just…” Clarke trailed off. “I can’t believe you’re alive.”

Monty gave her a one-armed hug, and Clarke was abruptly reminded of how they used to be, friends until all of their combined bad decisions got in their way. 

“I’m glad you’re here, Clarke,” he said finally. “I missed you.”

…

“Is it so bad that I want to see the sunrise one last time before I die?”

Miller glanced at Jackson. “You don’t have any more hope.”

Jackson shrugged. “Nobody’s come this way for six years. I don’t think anything will change in the next five days.”

Miller sighed. “Eric…”

Jackson shook his head. “It was inevitable,” he reasoned. “There was no way we were all going to survive in the end.

“This is bullshit!” Miller yelled. “We were supposed to live! This isn’t how it’s supposed to end!”

“Thousands of people died in a bunker once.” Jackson lifted one shoulder. “History repeats itself.”

“Stop it.” Miller reached for his shoulder. “Eric, come on.”

“We’re going to die, Nate. What do you want me to say?”

“I want you to say that you still have hope,” Miller said. “I want you to say that you don’t regret knowing me. I want you to say…”

“That I love you? Of course I love you,” Jackson said. “Why do you think I’m so angry about this? We should have had more of a life than this.” He gestured to the bunker around them. “We’re stuck, and we’re running out of oxygen. We’re running out of time.”

“Then we need to get out of here,” Miller said.

Jackson raised an eyebrow. “You think?”

“I’m serious. Forget the door. We both know that’s not going to work.” Miller chewed on his lip, thinking. “If we could find another spot to break open…”

“Nate, I think the whole point of a bunker is that that isn’t possible,” Jackson reminded him.

Miller shrugged. “Why the hell not? Got something better to do?”

“You are so annoying,” Jackson muttered. “Fine. I’m in.”

“I knew you would be.”

…

“You’ve got about five minutes before Cleo shuts this whole place down,” Jacen informed them. “Raven, you’ve coded in the destination?”

“Of course,” Raven said. “We launch in 4 minutes.”

“I’ll do my best to hold her off.” Jacen sighed. “Good luck on Earth. I hope you make it.”

“I hope we do, too,” I said darkly.

“You’re sure you don’t want to come?” Raven offered. “We have four extra seats in the rocket. 

Jacen’s nose scrunched in confusion. “We only sent three of you down.”

“We were supposed to bring an extra one up,” Emori clarified. “She didn’t reach us in time.”

“Ah, the famous Clarke.” Jacen smiled. “Okay. Good luck.”

“Thank you,” Raven said. “For everything.”

The door slammed shut, and we waited as the clock counted down.

Two minutes.

Ninety seconds.

Eighty.

Seventy.

The door slid open.

“Jacen, I—“ Raven stopped. “Good God. You’re going to want to close that, now.”

Sixty seconds.

“I don’t know where you’re going,” Cleo said. She had a backpack slung over her shoulder.

Fifty seconds.

“None of your business,” Raven spat.

Forty.

“If you want to go anywhere,” Cleo said coldly, “you’re going to take me with you. Or all of us are going to die.”

Thirty seconds.

“You’ve got to be kidding!” I yelled. “You don’t get to come with us now! Not after everything!”

“Kick her out,” Murphy said tensely.

Ten.

Nine.

Eight.

“We don’t have the time!” Raven’s tone bordered on hysteria.

“Last chance,” Cleo said softly.

Four.

Three.

“Get in a seat,” Emori commanded.

Cleo slammed the door shut and dove for her seatbelt as the ship launched into open space.

…

“Holy shit,” Monty breathed.

Polis was a wasteland. The tower lay in pieces, hopelessly covering the entrance to the bunker.

“Okay.” Harper cleared her throat. “They’re right there, guys. They’re…right there.”

“I thought you were exaggerating,” Echo admitted.

“We’ve done worse than this,” one girl said, tossing her red-streaked braid over her shoulder. Virian, Clarke remembered. “We can get through this.”

Echo took a deep breath. “Ai laik Azgeda,” she said stiffly. “Ai na ste yuj.”

As it turned out, they had different approaches.

The Skaiboudakru methodically moved pieces of rubble, one at a time. Clarke, Monty and Harper preferred to claw away at it, trying to shift heavy pieces just enough so that they could get past them. This backfired when shifting one unusually large piece of rubble, resulting in an avalanche that knocked Harper all the way down the hill and bowled over three other Skaiboudakru. Madi’s method proved most effective, for her, anyway. She was small enough to climb to the top of piles of rubble and slide down through the cracks until she reached the bottom.

“I FOUND IT!” she yelled after about three hours of searching.

“What?” Everyone’s heads lifted.

“The bunker. It’s here!” She struggled to push aside the rubble. “There’s so much here.”

“This might take a couple of days,” Monty said wearily. “Okay, everyone. Let’s get to work.”

…

“I think there’s a storm today,” Marcus mentioned offhandedly. 

“Oh yeah?”

“There’s a lot of vibration coming from above the stairs.”

Abby raised an eyebrow. “How would a storm cause that? Maybe it’s an earthquake.”

“I think we’d feel it too if it was an earthquake,” Marcus disagreed.

"Then if it's not an earthquake or a storm, what is it?"

"Could be rubble shifting," Marcus suggested quietly. 

"Would that be...better or worse for us?" 

"Depends."

Abby's heart sank. 

"It would be worse," she confirmed. "We're trapped."

"Abby..."

"Four days, Marcus."

…

"We're almost there," Raven said. "I aimed for the closest dock. And...there's a fair bit of fuel left." She glared at Cleo. "There would be more if Miss Lockdown hadn't come along."

"If I didn't say yes, we would have all died," Emori snapped. 

"I'm not blaming you, Emori," Raven said lightly. "That jab was strictly directed at her."

As the ship glided smoothly into the dock, Raven motioned for Cleo to hand her the backpack. 

"First thing's first," she said, striding aboard the Ark and down the hall. She came back a few moments later, empty-handed. 

"Where is it?" Cleo asked. "Did you put it in the rocket?"

"And waste all that fuel? God, no. I dumped it out of the airlock."

Murphy snorted. I barely concealed a grin. 

"You did what?" Cleo's jaw dropped. 

"Listen, blondie, if you don't want to be floated next, I suggest you listen up," Raven said coldly. "We leave in one hour. Anyone other than the tyrant bitch, gather up whatever you desperately need—as little as possible. And then we are going home."

"Where will you be?" Cleo asked. "Relaxing, perhaps?"

"I'll be making sure there's enough fuel in that rocket for us all to get home without having to push one overboard." Raven's tone was deadly quiet. 

"You can't keep me out of that rocket," Cleo blustered. 

"Oh yeah?" Murphy stepped forward, Emori at his side. I completed the circle, trying to look as menacing as possible. 

Apparently it worked, because Cleo dropped her gaze to stare at Raven's feet. 

"Get moving," Raven snapped. 

She didn't have to ask twice. 

…

At that present moment, Skaikru, Skaifayakru and Skaibodakru had all been working together for three days to free the bunker from its mountain of rubble. As Clarke dug, Madi played with the satellite dish. 

"Hey, Clarke?" she yelled. "I thought I heard something."

Clarke abandoned her efforts immediately, passing the heavy piece of building to a surprised Harper and dashing over to the radio, which was beginning to crackle. 

"Bunker, come in," she tried. "Octavia Blake, come in."

Static. A lot of it. 

"Let's try moving it closer," Madi suggested. 

So the two of them picked up the dish and edged it closer to the work zone. 

Suddenly, the static vanished, replaced by the faint crackle of a radio connection. 

"Bunker, come in," Clarke tried again. "Bunker, is anyone there? Hello?"

Just as she was beginning to give up hope, there was a sharp crackle from the radio. 

"This is the bunker," a female voice responded. "Who is this?"

"Clarke Griffin," Clarke exhaled. "This is Clarke Griffin, and I'm alive."

…

Abby stood in numb shock, staring at the radio. 

It couldn't be. 

And yet...unbidden, the Nightblood came to mind. The experiment that had never been completed. 

"Clarke," she half-whispered. "No. That's not possible. You didn't make it to the Ark..."

"Mom?"

Abby burst into tears. 

"Mom, we're digging you out," she said. "It shouldn't take much longer. We're going to get you out of there, okay?"

"Our oxygen runs out in twelve hours."

She heard her daughter inhale sharply. 

"I'm not going to let you die."

The door burst open. Octavia, Marcus, Jaha and Jackson flooded into the room.

"What's going on?" Octavia demanded. "We heard noise from above. Did the cameras kick in?"

Abby shook her head, holding out the radio. Octavia grabbed it. 

"This is Octavia. Who is this?"

"Octavia, it's Clarke."

Octavia stared at the radio. 

"No, it's not."

"Who else would it be?" Clarke grumbled. 

"Is my brother there?" Octavia demanded. "Did he come down?"

There was a shuffling. Then a new voice piped into the radio. 

"Hi, Octavia, it's Harper. Listen, three of us made it to the ground, but the other four are still in space."

"Bellamy?"

"Is in space," Harper said gently, "along with Murphy, Emori and Raven."

Octavia gripped the radio, suddenly feeling like a weight had dropped into her stomach.

“Is he coming down?” she said tightly.

There was a pause.

“We don’t know.” Harper hummed. “It’s kind of a long story.”

“Space invaders!”

Octavia squinted. “Monty?”

“Yes, Harper, they are space invaders. Okay. So. It turns out, we’re not exactly alone in space.” Monty paused. “There’s a whole colony of miners living on an asteroid, and that’s where Bellamy and co. are right now.”

“Wait.” Marcus grabbed the radio. “Monty, this is Marcus Kane. Did you say you met other people? In space?”

“Yes.” Like ping-pong, the radio went back to Harper. “We call them Skaiboudakru. There are about two hundred of them, and twenty of them are on the ground right now along with me, Monty, Clarke, Echo, and a Nightblood girl named Madi.”

“Wait.” Octavia grabbed the radio back. “Echo’s alive?”

There was a scuffling at the other end.

“I don’t want it,” someone was muttering. “Harper, I—“

“Take it—take it—Echo, just—“

“What?” Echo spat into the radio.

“I thought I banished you,” Octavia said coolly.

“I went to space, what more do you want?”

“Octavia, listen,” Monty said. “It’s been six years. She’s one of us now, the Skaifayakru.”

“I did what I had to do to survive,” Echo said. “You didn’t sentence me to death, Octavia Blake.”

Octavia glared at the radio.

“Just get us out of here,” Abby said. “We can talk when we see each other.”

“Hey, Mom?” Clarke had somehow regained control of the radio.

“Yes?”

“I’ll see you soon.”

Abby smiled. “I’ll be waiting.”

…

We gathered together, strapping ourselves in.

“We’re ready for launch,” Raven said. “Suits on? Oxygen off until I say go, remember.”

“So we’ve got enough fuel?” Emori asked. For the third time.

“I damn well hope so,” Raven muttered. “I don’t have Becca’s lab simulations to check for me, so we’re going to pray for the best.”

“TWENTY SECONDS TO LAUNCH,” the rocket intoned.

Raven took a deep breath. “Oxygen on,” she announced. Five oxygen tanks flicked to life.

“TEN SECONDS.”

We all looked around at one another. Even Cleo seemed, inexplicably, part of the group.

“In peace may you leave the shore,” Murphy said suddenly.

“FIVE.”

“In love may you find the next,” Emori whispered.

“FOUR.”

“Safe passage on your travels,” Raven continued.

“THREE.”

“Until our final journey to the ground,” I finished.

“TWO.”

Our voices joined in unison for the final line. “May we meet again.” 

“ONE.”

The rocket blasted into space.

Going home.

…

Ten minutes left.

The radio had gone quiet, and Clarke suspected they were preserving as much oxygen as possible. 

“There’s so much debris!” Harper yelled. “Clarke, help me move this!”

Clarke scrambled over the tower rubble, helping Harper wedge the huge chunk of stone out of the way. Finally, finally, they had almost cleared a path to the bunker.

Seven minutes.

Six.

They were running out of time.

…

Her breathing was shallow, and his was too. It was the end, and they knew it.

Clarke had failed.

A tear slid down Abby’s cheek as she knew how close her daughter was. So close. Separated only by a mound of rubble and a bunker door.

Beside her, Marcus reached for her hand.

“It will be over soon,” he whispered. 

She took a small, gasping breath. They were running out of oxygen. 

“In peace,” he said, “may you leave the shore.”

She managed to gather her breath.

“In love may you find the next.”

“Safe passage on your tr-travels.”

“Until our final journey to the ground,” she whispered.

“May we—“

His eyes fluttered closed and he slumped against the wall.

“—meet again,” she finished.

Her vision began to blur.

Through a haze of fog, a blinding light streamed past her. And as she finally faded into sleep, she could swear the last thing she saw was a girl with short blonde hair cupping her face.

“Mom?”

…

I don’t remember landing.

I don’t remember much of anything, except being shaken awake. On grass. Lying on grass, staring up at the sky. The sky, that was above me, instead of around me.

“Raven?” I choked.

“Whoa, there.” A hand stopped me as I tried to sit up. “Easy, big brother. You hit your head pretty hard.”

It took a moment for me to register the words.

Big brother.

Ignoring her instructions, I sat up so fast I almost fell over.

“Bellamy, you moron.”

There were tears running down Octavia’s face as she studied me. 

“O.”

“You came home.”

“You made it out of the bunker.”

I’d forgotten what she sounded like, forgotten what she looked like. Forgot that her hair had a mind of its own. Forgotten that her jawline was just slightly wider than her cheekbones. Forgotten about her death glare, the one she was currently training on Cleo. Forgotten how it felt to hug her. 

But I remembered now.

“Is everyone okay?” I asked. “Raven, Emori—“

“They’re all fine,” she said dismissively. “Come on, Bellamy, don’t you have someone you want to talk to?”

I stared at her. “Huh?”

“How hard did you hit your head?” She inclined her head up the hill, and I followed her gaze, to where a girl with short, pale hair stood silhouetted in the sunset. 

“Come on, Bellamy. Stop being a chicken shit.” Octavia bumped into me with her shoulder, wiggling her eyebrows at me. 

Some things would never change.

“I…I don’t know what to say to her,” I fibbed.

“I’m pretty sure you could say ‘you smell like dog shit’ and she’d still weep with joy,” Octavia snorted. “Not that I recommend that. Especially to Clarke.”

For some reason, the sound of her name spurred me into action. I jumped up, squeezing Octavia’s hand briefly.

“Go get em, tiger,” she whispered. I could hear her holding back giggles.

I steeled myself. This was Clarke, for God’s sake. I’d had a conversation with her over the radio a week ago.

Piece of cake.

…

Clarke watched Bellamy slowly walk up the hill. She could feel Madi watching her from the trees, but she didn’t mind all that much. 

Bellamy stopped about three feet away. The two locked eyes, and she suddenly had no idea what to say. Everything she’d ever done in the past five years was suddenly sapped from her memory as if it had never existed in the first place.

“Is your head okay?” she asked quietly.

He gave a short laugh. “Clarke, I haven’t seen you in six years, and the first thing you ask about is my head?”

“You did just hit it, didn’t you?”’

“You are so—“ he shook his head, pulling her into a hug.

She burst into tears.

“I missed you so much,” she whispered.

“I love you, Clarke.” She could tell he was smiling. “I’m sorry it took me seven years to say it.”

“I love you, too.”

They stood together on the hill, watching the sunset, as one thousand, two hundred and twenty-eight people below them milled about, reuniting and enjoying being outside again. 

It was time to start the world from scratch again.

**Author's Note:**

> tHANK Y'ALL FOR READING THAT PILE OF TRASH and again if you wanna discuss in-depth s5 theories or just wanna scream about the hiatus feel free to message me on tumblr @natblid-a bc we are all suffering so let's suffer together (:


End file.
